Thank you for that.

Now then, I came on dancing because it will give me courage

and also because my favorite thing in the world is dancing in the sky.

Now, my title, as you know, is going to be "It's Never Too Late."

Now, my name is Dilys.

I'm 84 years of age - 85 next month.

(Applause)

And I am here to tell you it's never too late.

Life could still be fun and challenging and can have a purpose.

Now then, at the age of 81,

I became the Guinness Book of Records oldest woman skydiver in the world.

(Applause)

I've done 1,136 skydives.

And this is that moment -

what I remember so well, which I still do -

when it's terrifying in a wonderful, beautiful way,

and you're waiting for the engine to stall.

You're looking at the lights;

you're looking at the red, and then it changes to green.

They pull the door up,

you look out,

you say "high-five" to everyone, and you go.

And that is beautiful.

And I'm now feeling that same sense of beauty

because I'm talking to you, and you're listening to me,

and we are in it together.

So, I like to skydive.

That skydive.

(Applause)

It's the ultimate sense of freedom.

It's wonderful.

It is my passion, and I'm still doing it.

I mean, two years ago, I broke my ankle in three places doing a skydive -

doing a skydive for television, actually.

So I was out of action for a year, or more than that,

doing quite extensive physiotherapy.

But just before Christmas,

having done 1,135,

I did my 1,136th skydive.

So, I'm back in the air, waiting now for this to be finished,

and next week I'll be going up there.

Now, skydiving - this is what I love to do.

It is dancing in the air.

It's my speciality.

It's really doing barrel rolls.

It's doing back flips; it's doing forward flips.

It's doing stand ups; it's doing sit downs.

And, you know, it's like driving a very, very fast car - it's very radical.

When, in the old days - because I've been doing this since I was 54 -

you would train -

(Laughter)

I'm a late starter.

In the old days, when I was actually doing competitions -

I was doing competitions in freestyle -

I would practice in the swimming pool,

which is not very good, because it's sluggish and slow.

Now they go to the air shuttle -

which I've also been in, but now I'm too old to be actually competing -

and so it's very, very fast.

You only have to do a little turn with your hands, and you're spinning.

But it is a joy.

It is absolutely wonderful, and I love my life.

Love my life.

But it wasn't always like that.

At 54 years old, I was like a chicken with my head cut off.

I had a stressful job, a responsible job.

I was a single parent.

I was 54, thinking life is going to end pretty soon.

Not yet, but I did think then.

I didn't have a lover.

I was alone, and I was working hard.

And I was full of fear and stress.

And fear and stress are the killers.

And in the 21st century, that is a real danger for us

because if you become fearful and stressed,

you start to disconnect -

disconnect with yourself, disconnect with others

and disconnect with life;

you feel as if you're sleepwalking.

When that happens, it probably happens to all of us at some time,

that's a danger sign.

Do something about it.

It will lead to breakdown;

it will lead to physical illness; it will lead to unhappiness.

And I was aware that I was in the state of disconnect.

And I thought, "I've got to do something about it.

I've got to find a passion.

I've got to find a reason which is beyond work,

beyond responsibility."

And I started to look stones over; I started to turn stones over.

And you know, even the act of looking and searching

and recognizing that I needed to do something about it

was the beginning of healing for me.

So, I knew I had to find a passion.

Long story, but I did read Goethe, who said at one point -

and this is a paraphrase, he'd say it much more beautifully -

but really filling your life with beauty.

And he said for five minutes a day, look at something beautiful,

listen to something beautiful,

think of something beautiful.

And I thought, "I'm so stressed, I can't go to a music class,

I can't do meditation."

But, perhaps, for five minutes a day, I can manage to do this.

So either in the morning before I got up or in a chair at the end of the day,

I began to do that:

I would breathe deeply -

and that was part of it,

breathing deeply which leads to relaxation.

I began to think about a beautiful sunset,

and I was in an ugly house with an ugly view,

and I thought about a lovely pink sunset going off into the fleecy clouds.

I thought about a beautiful baby's head.

You know how babies have these lovely heads that you want to hold?

I thought about that.

And then I would sing -

and thank goodness I lived on my own because I've got no voice -

but I would sing, "My love is like a red, red rose."

I did that for six months,

and one day, I thought, "I'm happy!"

And you know what? I was skydiving.

(Laughter)

Now, no one could have been more terrified of skydiving than me, originally.

And the way it happened was this,

that my students - because I lectured in a college and I taught dance -

my students had a charity for disabled children,

taking them to the Special Olympics, taking them on different trips,

and we had done a carboot sale, a run and a concert -

we were running out of money.

And I said, "What you need to do is a skydive."

Now, no one could have been more scared than me,

but if they were going to do it, I was going to do it.

And there actually was another thread to this.

I was 54 years old,

and my beautiful, lovely, gentle, talented mother

had committed suicide when she was 54.

So 54 was always going to be a difficult year for me.

And you know, in a way, what I was doing then -

although I was doing it for charity, doing it for another group -

I was actually challenging myself to face death,

and it was a grieving, and it was another healing.

So it really helped me get into enjoying life in a wonderful way.

And I had a fantastic time.

I had tents in America,

which I used to buy at Walmart and then throw away on the last day.

And I'd eat peanut sandwiches and nuts, and that's about all I had.

Later on, I managed to get an old trailer, and I lived in that - a wonderful time.

Here we are, in the air, with different people -

it was such a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time.

But ...

I see I faced my fear and found my purpose.

And made a difference, because that was only the beginning.

I'd found a passion.

But if you have a passion, you begin to overflow with energy,

you begin to overflow with love,

you have a different view.

When you're stressed and unhappy, you become negative about other people.

You become judgmental; things begin to go wrong.

Now, because I was so happy and I'd found my passion,

I was overflowing with energy and love.

So it happened that I eventually started another charity.

And at that time, I was 65 years of age, I'd retired -

but I'll tell you about that time in a minute -

because I'm enjoying life and I'm skydiving.

Now then, I had lots of adventures and misadventures.

I mean, I jumped out of airplanes,

but I don't know how many times I fell out of an airplane.

I would land - once in a marsh.

Once I landed in a rape field that was so tall that I lost my way.

I landed in the road with traffic coming along,

I dislocated the sign that led to the dropzone -

they weren't very pleased about that.

I once stopped all the traffic in an airdrome

by sailing graciously and happily across all the runways.

(Laughter)